Adolf Eichmann: Timeline

1925Eichmann works in the sales division of the Upper Austrian Electrical Construction Company.

1927-1933Eichmann works as a traveling salesman for the Vacuum Oil Company in Upper Austria.

1932Eichmann enters the Austrian National Socialist (Nazi) Party and the SS at the suggestion of an acquaintance, Ernst Kaltenbrunner.

January, 30, 1933Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Nazi Party, is appointed Chancellor of Germany.

January 1933-August 1934The Nazis consolidate virtually absolute power in the German state, culminating in Hitler proclaiming himself Führer of the German nation.

August 1933After the Austrian government began to crack down on the Austrian Nazi Party in June 1933, Eichmann leaves Austria for Germany, where he joins the “Austrian Legion” and engages in military training.

1934Eichmann joins the Security Service Main Office (Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Hauptamt) with the rank of SS-Scharführer (Sergeant).

1937Eichmann negotiates with Zionist functionaries and makes an inspection tour of Palestine after he is assigned to a section of the SD dealing with Zionist activities.

Summer 1939Eichmann becomes responsible for promoting the expulsion of Czech Jews from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and creates a Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Prague.

September 1939Reichsführer-SS and Chief of German Police Heinrich Himmler establishes the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), the agency which Hitler will entrust with coordinating the annihilation of the European Jews.

1940Eichmann becomes director of Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) section IV D 4 “Emigration and Evacuation” and in October organizes the deportation of nearly 7,000 Jews from Baden and Saarpfalz to areas of unoccupied France.

January-December 1941Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich and other top personnel reach the decision to physically annihilate the Jews of Europe.

March 1941Eichmann becomes director of RSHA section IV B 4 (Jewish Affairs, or Judenreferat). From this position, Eichmann plays a central role in the deportation of over 1.5 million Jews from all over Europe to killing centers and killing sites.

June 22, 1941Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union. SS and police authorities, supported by the military and by local auxiliaries, begin to systematically shoot Soviet Jews.

Autumn 1941Eichmann is appointed SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) and takes part in discussions in which Nazi leaders plan the annihilation of the European Jews.

October 15, 1941-February 1942Eichmann's Section IV B 4 coordinates the deportation of tens of thousands of Jews from the so-called Greater German Reich to ghettos and killing sites in the German-occupied Soviet Union.

January 20, 1942Reinhard Heydrich convenes the Wannsee Conference, presenting his plans to coordinate a European-wide “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” to key officials from Reich Ministries and the Nazi Party. Eichmann, who attends the conference and prepares Heydrich's briefing papers, will play a key role in the implementation of this “Final Solution.”

1942-1943Eichmann and his aides organize the deportation of Jews from the so-called Greater German Reich, Slovakia, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, and Croatia to killing centers in German-occupied Poland, primarily Auschwitz-Birkenau.

1943-1944Eichmann and his aides organize the deportation of Jews from Greece, northern Italy, and Hungary, primarily to the killing center Auschwitz-Birkenau.

April 30, 1945Hitler commits suicide

May 7, 1945Nazi Germany signs surrender document

1946Eichmann escapes from US custody and flees to Argentina with the assistance of some Vatican officials.

1960Agents of the Israeli Security Service (Mossad) abduct Eichmann and bring him to Israel to stand trial.

December 15, 1961Eichmann is found guilty of crimes against the Jewish people.

May 31/ June 1, 1962Eichmann is hanged at midnight between May 31 and June 1, 1962.